Hospital staff and physicians who explain, apologize for and resolve adverse medical events cut legal defense and liability costs, according to a study led by Atlanta-based Georgia State University researchers.
The researchers analyzed 12 years of data (2004-2015) at Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Erlanger Health System, a five-hospital system that treats 600,000 patients a year. Erlanger physicians are not employed by the hospital and buy their own professional liability insurance.
The study found Erlanger's communication and resolution program, launched in January 2009, led to a 66 percent reduction in legal claims filed, 51 percent reduction in defense costs and 53 percent reduction in required time to close cases. There were no medical errors in 65 percent of the adverse events reported.
"Following CRP protocol, when medical errors were explained to the patients and their families, 43 percent were resolved by apology alone, even though 60 percent of those patients had legal representation," said study author Florence LeCraw, MD.